


Christmas in Subcon Forest

by DeckofDragons



Series: 12 Days of Christmas 2019 [1]
Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Gift Exchange, Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:08:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21789538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeckofDragons/pseuds/DeckofDragons
Summary: Hat Kid visits Snatcher to wish him a Merry Christmas.
Relationships: Hat Kid & Snatcher
Series: 12 Days of Christmas 2019 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1570246
Comments: 6
Kudos: 110





	Christmas in Subcon Forest

It was snowing again and from the looks of things had been doing so for the past few how while Snatcher had dozed – the closet a ghost could get to sleeping – in his closed tree-home to avoid people. He had vague memories of once upon a time enjoying snow. But as with a lot of things he’d liked – or in some cases _loved_ – in life, he hated it in death.

Normally, when it got this bad he’d send the Subconites out to clear up it where possible and stamp it down and dirty it where it couldn’t be cleared. Not only did he not like it for personal reasons – reasons shared by his minions albeit in a slightly less personal way – he also had a reputation to uphold; freshly fallen snow transformed his dark scary forest into a bright pretty winter wonderland and that could not be tolerated. But in just a few hours it would be Christmas. He couldn’t command them to work on Christmas Eve or Christmas even if he didn’t already make a point to leave them to themselves and whatever Christmas traditions they’d managed to keep throughout the years for the entire week leading up to it. So he’d just have to deal with it. On the bright side, the holiday meant no one would be coming to his forest anyway so he wouldn’t have to worry about that.

With one last frown at the snow, Snatcher pulled back into his hollowed tree. He added fuel to the little fireplace, bolstering the struggling flames within. The warmth it provided was slight and unnecessary – he was ghost, temperature didn’t affect him much and freezing to death wasn’t a concern – but it was still preferable and he was allowed his self-indulgent comforts. Including finally getting around to reading some of the new Christmas books he’d gotten from town last time he’d visited a week or so ago now. He hadn’t gotten them because they were Christmas books – of course not, he didn’t care about the holiday at all, why would he? – but because they’d been the only new ones available. The fact that he was getting around to them on Christmas Eve was purely coincidental.

Many hours later he was deep into a Christmas story that featured ghosts – Christmas ghosts, pfft, as if any self-respecting ghost would choose that as their mantel or would want to haunt some grouchy old curmudgeon because he didn’t like Christmas – when something living entered his forest. Who or even what it was, he couldn’t know, just that something alive had come in through the main entrance.

 _Great_! Just what he needed when he was trying to relax and enjoy a day off for once. He’d make whoever it was sign a contract to clear the snow – who cared how impossible such a task would be for a single person – and then eat their soul when they inevitably failed. … Was it okay to do that kind of thing on Christmas? … Probably not but whatever, he was going to do it anyway. It’s what they got for choosing to venture into Subcon Forest instead of spending time with their friends and family.

He closed his book and placed it on the table before teleporting over. Because of the wretched snow he wouldn’t be able to hide in the trees as well as he normally did to investigate his prey before popping in on them so he didn’t even bother trying. Instead he appeared in the middle of path, as close to the sense of life as he could pinpoint.

“AHAHAHA! FOOOOOOOL! HOW DARE YOU… enter my forest…” He trailed off with a frown. It was Hat Kid. Of course it was, who else would it be?

“Hi!” She lifted a hand to wave at him, wriggling her fingers. “Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas to you too Kid, what do you want?”

“To wish you Merry Christmas and to give you a gift.” She was holding a gift box under her arm that she now shifted to hold up towards him. “Merry Christmas!”

“Look Kid, I appreciate it but Christmas really isn’t my thing. It’s too soft and sweet. There’s no room for anything fun like soul stealing or scaring people to death.” And he didn’t have family or friends anyway so… it wasn’t a holiday for him.

Hat Kid gave him a stern disapproving look. “Take the gift. I made it especially for you.”

Snatcher almost asked ‘why’ but her answer would be the same as it always was: because he was her ‘BFF’. He could tell her that that’s not how contracts worked until _she_ was a ghost too and she still wouldn’t listen to him. So instead he took the gift out of her hands. He was curious about what it was anyway.

Inside was… a top hat. It was much like hers except a bit bigger and was black with a stripe of dark purple. His symbol was stitched into the top of it in bright yellow.

“You like it?” Hat Kid asked before he could respond. “I made it for you because you looked kind of cute when you stole my hat that one time.” When he’d been trying to _kill_ her but she wasn’t going to mention _that_ because it contradicted her whole BFF story. “So I figured you might want one.”

Could Snatcher in good consciousness bad mouth a gift a child had made for him even if that child was a pain? Especially when the gift was clearly well made and had probably taken a lot of time and hard work to make. And well… he kind of liked it? It had a nice look to it and he could see himself wearing it sometimes; looking a bit more formal would heighten his intimidation factor in certain situations.

“Thanks kid,” he said, purposefully making it sound like it wasn’t a big deal to him. Like it wasn’t the first gift he’d gotten in… _how many years_? “How does it look?” He flipped it onto his head, letting it rest at a slight angle.

“It looks great!” Hat Kid beamed up at him, practically vibrating with excitement. … Nope, she was shivering because she wasn’t properly dressed for this weather. Peck!

“Look kiddo, I wouldn’t normally do this but since you were so kind to _make_ me a gift, I suppose I can give you something in return. It is Christmas after all.” He teleported them back to his closed-up tree-home. He quickly added another log to the fire – it had started to die while he was out – hoping she wouldn’t take note of it.

He grabbed one of the books off the table, one he’d already finished reading because no way was he going to give away a book he hadn’t read yet. “Here,” he said, handing it to her. “It’s a sappy Christmas story that I’m sure you’ll enjoy.”

“Thank you!” She hugged the book to her chest, far too happy to receive a gift that was literally last minute and not thought out at all. It _almost_ made Snatcher feel a little bad. But it wasn’t _his_ fault she’d decided to barge in on him on Christmas to give him a gift thus creating the obligation he give her one back. So really it was _her_ fault she’d received a such a crappy gift. “And thank you for the fire too. It’s nice.” Her shivers eased visibly as she lowered herself to sit in front of it and huddle close.

“Yeah whatever, just… stay however long you want, I’m feeling magnanimous today.” He made a vague hand gesture towards her as he settled back into his chair. He glanced at his reflection in the little wall mirror as he reached for his book. The top hat did look good on him, as someone big into appearance and showiness, he was very pleased with it. He wasn’t going to let her know that of course, he had an image to uphold.


End file.
